Knitted hosiery, such as socks, womens' stockings and panty hose, have traditionally been knitted from the open end toward the toe of the garment, leaving an opening in the toe which is then closed by a separate manufacturing step. In one common procedure, the garment is transferred from the knitting machine to a sewing machine where an operator sews the opening closed, thereby finishing the hosiery.
It has long been recognized that this method of manufacturing hosiery is costly and inefficient because it requires extra manufacturing steps, more than one machine and a skilled operator performing a series of hand operations to complete a garment. This problem has been addressed in the past by the development of knitting methods and machines which knit hosiery with a closed toe automatically, but such machines tend to be very specialized, are complicated in construction and operation and costly to purchase and operate. There is clearly a need for a simplified, efficient, fully automated method of knitting hosiery which does not require expensive, specialized machinery or separate hand operations to produce acceptable hosiery.